BEYOND THE GRID & BEHIND THE SCENES

With F1 set to be this summer's blockbuster, Chris Medland speaks to its makers about the art of wheel-to-wheel authenticity

-  Chris Medland

First F1 conquered the small screen with Drive to Survive. Now it is aiming to do the same with the silver screen with a star studded movie release. In production for well over two years the new film, set for release in the UK on July 25, is already being talked about as the summer’s big blockbuster.

With a budget rumoured to be around $300m and Brad Pitt in the lead role, there is speculation that it may eclipse even Ford v Ferrari, the surprise motor sport hit of six years ago and the film that brought Le Mans to the mainstream masses.

Details of the film’s plot are being kept under strictest secrecy. However, the bones of it are as follows: ageing racer Sonny Hayes (Pitt) was the best of his generation in his heyday during the 1990s until a horror crash ended his competitive career. The film picks up 30 years on when Hayes - “a nomadic racer-for-hire” - is approached by his former teammate Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), owner of a struggling F1 team that is on the verge of collapse. Ruben convinces Hayes to have one last shot at saving the team and being the best in the world.

He is pitted against a cocky young hotshoe racer Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), setting up a finale where, as the publicity has it: “In Formula 1 your teammate is your fiercest competition—and the road to redemption is not something you can travel alone”

So far so Hollywood of course. But what sets this film apart from previous attempts to dramatise the sport is the close cooperation between F1 and Apple Original Films, the makers, and the extraordinary lengths they went to to recreate the realism of racing. From filming live at grands prix through 2023 and 2024 to involving all 10 teams and their drivers who appear in the film as themselves.

Formula 1 has been asked to cooperate with Hollywood before. Twenty six years ago Sylvester Stallone made multiple visits to the paddock for his film